Arcane: A Stroke of Death [Male Reader]

VIII. Those Clamorous Harbingers of Blood and Death

A green haze shined through (Y/N)'s eyelids.

This wasn't possible.

He was dead.

Was this the afterlife?

(Y/N) slowly opened his one good eye and saw he was submerged in a pit filled with bright green liquid.

That was when he felt again. He felt warm, almost like the green liquid was holding him, slowly nursing him back to health. It was only then he realized he was inhaling it.

He coughed once under the surface, then his head shot out of the green liquid, scrambling for the surface. He placed a hand on a cold, stone surface and crawled out, coughing up the green liquid, his lungs gasping for air.

He pulled himself all the way out of the liquid and found himself in ornate, black robes. His possessions were on the floor a few feet away from him.

(Y/N) immediately noticed the shining silver of the armband he had fashioned for Vi - he instantly recalled that she had given it to him shortly before he died... or fell unconscious, or something.

His sword was still in perfect condition. (Y/N) pulled it out of its sheath slightly and looked at his reflection in the blade.

His skin was smooth and bright, the wear and tear of the undercity near gone. His right eye was no longer swollen - but it wasn't a good sight to see. The eye was completely glossed over white, and a deep, red scar ran over it all the way up and down the right side of his face. He looked at his shoulder next - Penguin's cigar burn was still present.

(Y/N) looked to his helmet next and found that the right half had been completely blown off. The little amount of the right side still left was black and charred, tiny tendrils curving towards the inside of the helmet.

Massive stone doors suddenly opened and (Y/N) dropped the helmet, startled. He crawled back in fear, but then saw the figure drop something on the ground for him.

An eyepatch.

He picked it up and slid it on, covering his right eye completely. Then, he looked up to the man in the doorway.

"Do you remember me?" The man asked.

"Yes..." (Y/N) began. "You were Penguin's assassin. Ducard."

"That is what I led you to believe," He said. "But Ducard is not my true name. My true name is Ra's Al Ghul."

"What is this place?"

"This?" Ra's motioned to the green pit of liquid. "This is the Lazarus Pit. Over millions of years, the crystals that the wizards use to cast magic slowly seeped into its water, giving it this green glow. A restorative enzyme was formed in the water, and now it's used for healing purposes."

"It brought me back from the dead?"

"Not quite. You were still alive when I found you, albeit barely. If you had not been taken here, I fear, you would have passed on."

(Y/N) suddenly remembered. "Vi. Powder..." He looked up at Ra's. "I have to go back."

"If you go back now, the Enforcers will kill you. But when the time comes, you will see them again. If they are still alive."

"That's what I need to find out," (Y/N) said, pleading. "I must know!"

"I know as much as you do. Nobody was present where I found you, although somebody did leave this behind." Ra's held up a small rag and tossed it to (Y/N).

(Y/N) smelled the rag briefly. "Chloroform."

"Precisely."

(Y/N) dropped the rag on the ground and stood. "Why did you take me here?"

"Remember what I said to you? If you're ever broken, scouring the plains of the world in search of a purpose... I'll find you."